DOCSLIB.ORG

Searching for Songs of the People: the Ideology of the Composers’

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Searching for Songs of the People: the Ideology of the Composers’ SEARCHING FOR SONGS OF THE PEOPLE: THE IDEOLOGY OF THE COMPOSERS’ COLLECTIVE AND ITS MUSICAL IMPLICATIONS Abigail Chaplin-Kyzer Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2018 APPROVED: Mark McKnight, Major Professor Hendrik Schulze, Committee Member Peter Mondelli, Committee Member Benjamin Brand, Interim Chair of the Division of Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology John Richmond, Dean of the College of Music Victor Prybutok, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Chaplin-Kyzer, Abigail. Searching for Songs of the People: The Ideology of the Composers’ Collective and Its Musical Implications. Master of Arts (Music), May 2018, 133 pp., 5 figures, bibliography, 39 primary source titles, 46 secondary source titles. The Composers' Collective, founded by leftist composers in 1932 New York City, sought to create proletarian music that avoided the "bourgeois" traditions of the past and functioned as a vehicle to engage Americans in political dialogue. The Collective aimed to understand how the modern composer became isolated from his public, and discussions on the relationship between music and society pervade the radical writings of Marc Blitzstein, Charles Seeger, and Elie Siegmeister, three of the organization's most vocal members. This new proletarian music juxtaposed revolutionary text with avant-garde musical idioms that were incorporated in increasingly greater quantities; thus, composers progressively acclimated the listener to the dissonance of modern music, a distinctive sound that the Collective hoped would become associated with revolutionary ideals. The mass songs of the two Workers' Song Books published by the Collective, illustrate the transitional phase of the musical implementation of their ideology. In contrast, a case study of the song "Chinaman! Laundryman!" by Ruth Crawford Seeger, a fringe member of the Collective, suggests that this song belongs within the final stage of proletarian music, where the text and highly modernist music seamlessly interact to create what Charles Seeger called an "art-product of the highest type." Copyright 2018 by Abigail Chaplin-Kyzer ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply appreciative of the advice and patience of my major professor, Dr. Mark McKnight, over the many years it took to complete this project, as well as the invaluable feedback from committee members Dr. Hendrik Schulze and Dr. Peter Mondelli. I am indebted to the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music for their kind permission to include the sources found in the personal papers of Marc Blitzstein and to Carl Fischer on behalf of Theodore Presser Inc. for granting me license to reproduce score excerpts from Ruth Crawford Seeger’s “Chinaman, Laundryman.” I am thankful for the persistent encouragement of my husband, Daniel Kyzer, and the abiding support from my parents who never doubted me or what I could accomplish. Finally, my heartfelt gratitude is extended to the indomitable Dr. Kristen Stauffer Todd, who first showed me how exciting the field of musicology could be. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY: THE COMPOSERS’ COLLECTIVE AND THE SOCIAL FUNCTION OF MUSIC ........................................................................................ 9 What is Proletarian Music? ................................................................................................. 9 Radical Philosophy and the Ivory Tower.......................................................................... 20 The Control of Music and “Art for Art’s Sake” ............................................................... 27 Crafting a “New Musical Life” ......................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 3. THE NEW PROLETARIAN MUSIC ................................................................... 38 Creating Proletarian Music ............................................................................................... 40 Why Avant-Garde Music? ................................................................................................ 44 Distancing the Present from the Past ................................................................................ 51 “Form and Content” and the Importance of Text ............................................................. 56 CHAPTER 4. CRAFTING AN IDEAL: THE WORKERS’ SONG BOOKS AND RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER’S “CHINAMAN, LAUNDRYMAN!” ................................................. 66 Purpose and Background of the Workers’ Song Books .................................................... 70 Blending Old and New Techniques in the Workers’ Song Books .................................... 74 Songs for the Advanced Revolutionary Chorus................................................................ 83 Music for the Proletariat ................................................................................................... 85 “Chinaman! Laundryman!” and the Final Phase of Proletarian Music ............................ 88 The Collaboration of Music and Text ............................................................................... 97 CHAPTER 5. RECEPTION AND LEGACY ............................................................................ 106 APPENDIX: MUSICAL EXAMPLES....................................................................................... 118 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 128 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: L.E. Swift “A Song for May Day,” Daily Worker, April 27, 1935. .............................. 14 Figure 2: Lyrics by Robert Gessner in L.E. Swift’s “A Song for May Day” ............................... 14 Figure 3: Poem “Chinaman! Laundryman!” by H.T. Tsiang. The words of the boss are in italics. ....................................................................................................................................................... 90 Figure 4: Three Rhythmic Patterns in the Piano Accompaniment of “Chinaman! Laundryman!” ....................................................................................................................................................... 99 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Art, then, is always and inevitably a social function. It has social significance. It is a social force. It is propaganda: explicit, positive; implied, negative. The better the art, the better propaganda it makes: the better propaganda, the better art it is. Charles Seeger Charles Seeger’s words on the social implications of music aptly illustrate the leading viewpoint of the Composers’ Collective, an organization in which Seeger was an early member and integral participant. The Composers’ Collective emerged in New York City in 1932 as a response to the expressed need for a forum in which to discuss modern music as a vehicle for engaging Americans in a political dialogue. This thesis explores the writings, compositions, and history of the Collective and provides an extensive look at the ideology of its members and their thoughts on music and its function in American society. As a result, the study of primary sources forms a crucial component of my research and excerpts from editorials and articles published in the Daily Worker, New Masses, Modern Music, Music Vanguard, and numerous other periodicals as well as unpublished materials found in the Marc Blitzstein Papers appear throughout this project. Furthermore, I examine the musical compositions of Collective members and consider how they applied their ideological views to the compositional process in examples from the mass songs of the Workers Song Books and in Ruth Crawford Seeger’s solo song “Chinaman! Laundryman!” The mass and solo song genres typify different stages within the Collective’s output, and Crawford’s solo song, I believe, exemplifies the final stage in which 1 musical technique and revolutionary text seamlessly interact to create what Charles Seeger called an “art-product of the highest type.”1 Active members of the Collective included Lan Adomian, Marc Blitzstein, Norman Cazden, Henry Leland Clarke, Henry Cowell, Robert Gross, Herbert Haufrecht, George Maynard, Ashley Pettis, Wallingford Riegger, Earl Robinson, Jacob Schaefer, Charles Seeger, and Elie Siegmeister. Prominent composers Aaron Copland, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Hanns Eisler were not official members, but they occasionally interacted with the organization and certainly sympathized with the Collective’s aims.2 This roster boasted the names of America’s leading composers, most of whom were highly educated intellectuals actively involved in the musical modernist movement. Though an educational and economic divide existed between Collective members and the average worker, the unmistakable hardship of the Great Depression on America’s lower classes caused great concern among individuals of all backgrounds. The impetus for the formation of the Collective was not only musical but social. Seeger described the mood of the group in retrospect: “We felt urgency in those days. …‘The economic and social system is going to hell over here. Music might be able to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cuban Antifascism and the Spanish Civil War: Transnational Activism, Networks, and Solidarity in the 1930S
    Cuban Antifascism and the Spanish Civil War: Transnational Activism, Networks, and Solidarity in the 1930s Ariel Mae Lambe Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Ariel Mae Lambe All rights reserved ABSTRACT Cuban Antifascism and the Spanish Civil War: Transnational Activism, Networks, and Solidarity in the 1930s Ariel Mae Lambe This dissertation shows that during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) diverse Cubans organized to support the Spanish Second Republic, overcoming differences to coalesce around a movement they defined as antifascism. Hundreds of Cuban volunteers—more than from any other Latin American country—traveled to Spain to fight for the Republic in both the International Brigades and the regular Republican forces, to provide medical care, and to serve in other support roles; children, women, and men back home worked together to raise substantial monetary and material aid for Spanish children during the war; and longstanding groups on the island including black associations, Freemasons, anarchists, and the Communist Party leveraged organizational and publishing resources to raise awareness, garner support, fund, and otherwise assist the cause. The dissertation studies Cuban antifascist individuals, campaigns, organizations, and networks operating transnationally to help the Spanish Republic, contextualizing these efforts in Cuba’s internal struggles of the 1930s. It argues that both transnational solidarity and domestic concerns defined Cuban antifascism. First, Cubans confronting crises of democracy at home and in Spain believed fascism threatened them directly. Citing examples in Ethiopia, China, Europe, and Latin America, Cuban antifascists—like many others—feared a worldwide menace posed by fascism’s spread.
    [Show full text]
  • The Spanish Civil War in the Work of Silvestre Revueltas Luis Velasco-Pufleau
    The Spanish Civil War in the work of Silvestre Revueltas Luis Velasco-Pufleau To cite this version: Luis Velasco-Pufleau. The Spanish Civil War in the work of Silvestre Revueltas. Gemma Pérez Zalduondo; Germán Gan Quesada. Music and Francoism, Brepols, pp.321-347, 2013, 978-2-503- 54899-9. hal-01773427 HAL Id: hal-01773427 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01773427 Submitted on 24 Apr 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. The Spanish Civil War in the Work of Silvestre Revueltas1 Luis Velasco Pufleau (Salzburg) he anti-fascist commitments of the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (1899- 1940) to the Spanish Republic was part of the immense international movement Tin support of the republican cause after the coup d’état at the origin of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). In Mexico, this cause federated a large number of politicians, intellectuals and artists, most of them grouped together under the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios2 (LEAR) and the Mexican Popular Front3 (MPF). As dictated by the ideological line of the Comintern, in the eyes of the LEAR — Silvestre Revueltas presided over its Executive Committee between May 1936 and February 19374 — the 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Wallingford Riegger
    WALLINGFORD RIEGGER: Romanza — Music for Orchestra Alfredo Antonini conducting the Orchestra of the “Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia-Roma” Dance Rhythms Alfredo Antonini conducting the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra THIS RELEASE is but further evidence of the growing and gratifying tendency of recent years to recognize Wallingford Riegger as one of the leading and most influential figures in twentieth century American composition, in fact as the dean of American composers. Herbert Elwell, music critic of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, said it in April, 1956: “I am coming more and more to the conclusion that it is Riegger who has been the real leader and pathfinder in contemporary American music . not only a master of his craft but in some ways a prophet and a seer.” In the same month, in Musical America, Robert Sabin wrote: “I firmly believe that his work will outlast that of many an American composer who has enjoyed far greater momentary fame.” Riegger was born in Albany, Georgia, on April 29, 1885. Both his parents were amateur musicians and were determined to encourage their children in musical study. When the family moved to New York in 1900, the young Wallingford was enrolled at the Institute of Musical Art where he studied the cello and composition. Graduating from there in 1907 Riegger then went to Germany to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin with Max Bruch. In 1915-1916 he conducted opera in Würzburg and Königsberg and the following season he led the Blüthner Orchestra in Berlin. Since his return to the United States in 1917, he has been active in many phases of our musical life.
    [Show full text]
  • Focus 2020 Pioneering Women Composers of the 20Th Century
    Focus 2020 Trailblazers Pioneering Women Composers of the 20th Century The Juilliard School presents 36th Annual Focus Festival Focus 2020 Trailblazers: Pioneering Women Composers of the 20th Century Joel Sachs, Director Odaline de la Martinez and Joel Sachs, Co-curators TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction to Focus 2020 3 For the Benefit of Women Composers 4 The 19th-Century Precursors 6 Acknowledgments 7 Program I Friday, January 24, 7:30pm 18 Program II Monday, January 27, 7:30pm 25 Program III Tuesday, January 28 Preconcert Roundtable, 6:30pm; Concert, 7:30pm 34 Program IV Wednesday, January 29, 7:30pm 44 Program V Thursday, January 30, 7:30pm 56 Program VI Friday, January 31, 7:30pm 67 Focus 2020 Staff These performances are supported in part by the Muriel Gluck Production Fund. Please make certain that all electronic devices are turned off during the performance. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment are not permitted in the auditorium. Introduction to Focus 2020 by Joel Sachs The seed for this year’s Focus Festival was planted in December 2018 at a Juilliard doctoral recital by the Chilean violist Sergio Muñoz Leiva. I was especially struck by the sonata of Rebecca Clarke, an Anglo-American composer of the early 20th century who has been known largely by that one piece, now a staple of the viola repertory. Thinking about the challenges she faced in establishing her credibility as a professional composer, my mind went to a group of women in that period, roughly 1885 to 1930, who struggled to be accepted as professional composers rather than as professional performers writing as a secondary activity or as amateur composers.
    [Show full text]
  • Program Book Final 1-16-15.Pdf
    4 5 7 BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA TABLE OF CONTENTS | JANUARY 24 – FEBRUARY 15, 2015 BPO Board of Trustees/BPO Foundation Board of Directors 11 BPO Musician Roster 15 Happy Birthday Mozart! 17 M&T Bank Classics Series January 24 & 25 Alan Parsons Live Project 25 BPO Rocks January 30 Ben Vereen 27 BPO Pops January 31 Russian Diversion 29 M&T Bank Classics Series February 7 & 8 Steve Lippia and Sinatra 35 BPO Pops February 13 & 14 A Very Beary Valentine 39 BPO Kids February 15 Corporate Sponsorships 41 Spotlight on Sponsor 42 Meet a Musician 44 Annual Fund 47 Patron Information 57 CONTACT VoIP phone service powered by BPO Administrative Offices (716) 885-0331 Development Office (716) 885-0331 Ext. 420 BPO Administrative Fax Line (716) 885-9372 Subscription Sales Office (716) 885-9371 Box Office (716) 885-5000 Group Sales Office (716) 885-5001 Box Office Fax Line (716) 885-5064 Kleinhans Music Hall (716) 883-3560 Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra | 499 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202 www.bpo.org | [email protected] Kleinhan's Music Hall | 3 Symphony Circle, Buffalo, NY 14201 www.kleinhansbuffalo.org 9 MESSAGE FROM BOARD CHAIR Dear Patrons, Last month witnessed an especially proud moment for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra: the release of its “Built For Buffalo” CD. For several years, we’ve presented pieces commissioned by the best modern composers for our talented musicians, continuing the BPO’s tradition of contributing to classical music’s future. In 1946, the BPO made the premiere recording of the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony. Music director Lukas Foss was also a renowned composer who regularly programmed world premieres of the works of himself and his contemporaries.
    [Show full text]
  • 5290-001 B. J. Bullert Papers Inventory Accession
    UNlVERSllY U BRARIJES w UNIVERSITY of WASHI NGTON Spe ial Colle tions 5924 B. J. Bullert papers Inventory Accession No: 5290-001 Special Collections Division University of Washington Libraries Box 352900 Seattle, Washington, 98195-2900 USA (206) 543-1929 This document forms part of the Preliminary Guide to the B. J. Bullert Papers. To find out more about the history, context, arrangement, availability and restrictions on this collection, click on the following link: http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/permalink/BullertBJ5290/ Special Collections home page: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/ Search Collection Guides: http://digital.lib.washington.edu/findingaids/search University of Washington Libraries Manuscripts, Special Collections, University Archives Bullert, Bette Jean Bette Jean Bullert Papers 1986-91 1.21 cubic feet Accession No. 5290-001 INVENTORY Box Dates VIDEO CASSETTES – VHS ROBINSON MEMORIAL 1 (Tape 1) Memorial Service at the Los Angeles 1st Unitarian Church 25 Aug. 1991 Narrators: Miriam Sharman and Mario Cassetta; sponsored by the Southern California Library of Social Studies and Research. Speakers: Norman Corwin, Betty Garrett. Hope Foy and William Marshall, singers, and others. (Tape 2) Memorial Service University Unitarian Church, Seattle. 18 Aug. 1991 A West Seattle High School (Earl’s contemporaries) jazz band played the West Seattle High School Song, accompanied by Earl’s son, Perry with Joan Glasgow and the Jump band. Narrators during service: Earl’s son, Perry, and Eric Gordon (Tape 3) Memorial Service Unitarian, Tape 2 of this service (with some duplication from Tape 1. th BIRTHDAYEARL’S CELEBRATION80 15 July 1990 (Tapes 4-7) 4 tapes of celebration with Earl’s songs sung by various groups and Earl, with Pete Seeger in Seattle at Meany Hall; narrated by Eric Gordon Tape 5 is a celebration for Earl at Meany Hall with an award From Mayor Norm Rice.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses English Folk under the Red Flag: The Impact of Alan Bush's `Workers' Music' on 20th Century Britain's Left-Wing Music Scene ROBINSON, ALICE,MERIEL How to cite: ROBINSON, ALICE,MERIEL (2021) English Folk under the Red Flag: The Impact of Alan Bush's `Workers' Music' on 20th Century Britain's Left-Wing Music Scene , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13924/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 English Folk under the Red Flag: The Impact of Alan Bush’s ‘Workers’ Music’ on 20 th Century Britain’s Left-Wing Music Scene Alice Robinson Abstract Workers’ music: songs to fight injustice, inequality and establish the rights of the working classes. This was a new, radical genre of music which communist composer, Alan Bush, envisioned in 1930s Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • Academiccatalog 2017.Pdf
    New England Conservatory Founded 1867 290 Huntington Avenue Boston, Massachusetts 02115 necmusic.edu (617) 585-1100 Office of Admissions (617) 585-1101 Office of the President (617) 585-1200 Office of the Provost (617) 585-1305 Office of Student Services (617) 585-1310 Office of Financial Aid (617) 585-1110 Business Office (617) 585-1220 Fax (617) 262-0500 New England Conservatory is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. New England Conservatory does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic make-up, or veteran status in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, employment policies, scholarship and loan programs or other Conservatory-sponsored activities. For more information, see the Policy Sections found in the NEC Student Handbook and Employee Handbook. Edited by Suzanne Hegland, June 2016. #e information herein is subject to change and amendment without notice. Table of Contents 2-3 College Administrative Personnel 4-9 College Faculty 10-11 Academic Calendar 13-57 Academic Regulations and Information 59-61 Health Services and Residence Hall Information 63-69 Financial Information 71-85 Undergraduate Programs of Study Bachelor of Music Undergraduate Diploma Undergraduate Minors (Bachelor of Music) 87 Music-in-Education Concentration 89-105 Graduate Programs of Study Master of Music Vocal Pedagogy Concentration Graduate Diploma Professional String Quartet Training Program Professional
    [Show full text]
  • Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94
    Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 By Jon Pareles, The New York Times, 1/28 Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday. He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y. His death was confirmed by his grandson, Kitama Cahill Jackson, who said he died of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Mr. Seeger’s career carried him from singing at labor rallies to the Top 10 to college auditoriums to folk festivals, and from a conviction for contempt of Congress (after defying the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s) to performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural concert for Barack Obama. 1 / 13 Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 For Mr. Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action. In his hearty tenor, Mr. Seeger, a beanpole of a man who most often played 12-string guitar or five-string banjo, sang topical songs and children’s songs, humorous tunes and earnest anthems, always encouraging listeners to join in. His agenda paralleled the concerns of the American left: He sang for the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s, and for environmental and antiwar causes in the 1970s and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • “Talking Union”--The Almanac Singers (1941) Added to the National Registry: 2010 Essay by Cesare Civetta (Guest Post)*
    “Talking Union”--The Almanac Singers (1941) Added to the National Registry: 2010 Essay by Cesare Civetta (guest post)* 78rpm album package Pete Seeger, known as the “Father of American Folk music,” had a difficult time of it as a young, budding singer. While serving in the US Army during World War II, he wrote to his wife, Toshi, “Every song I started to write and gave up was a failure. I started to paint because I failed to get a job as a journalist. I started singing and playing more because I was a failure as a painter. I went into the army because I was having more and more failure musically.” But he practiced his banjo for hours and hours each day, usually starting as soon as he woke in the morning, and became a virtuoso on the instrument, and even went on to invent the “long-neck banjo.” The origin of the Almanacs Singers’ name, according to Lee Hays, is that every farmer's home contains at least two books: the Bible, and the Almanac! The Almanacs Singers’ first job was a lunch performance at the Jade Mountain Restaurant in New York in December of 1940 where they were paid $2.50! The original members of the group were Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Millard Campbell, John Peter Hawes, and later Woody Guthrie. Initially, Seeger used the name Pete Bowers because his dad was then working for the US government and he could have lost his job due to his son’s left-leaning politically charged music. The Singers sang anti-war songs, songs about the draft, and songs about President Roosevelt, frequently attacking him.
    [Show full text]
  • 5. Calling for International Solidarity: Hanns Eisler’S Mass Songs in the Soviet Union
    From Massenlieder to Massovaia Pesnia: Musical Exchanges between Communists and Socialists of Weimar Germany and the Early Soviet Union by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Bryan Gilliam, Supervisor ___________________________ Edna Andrews ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 i v ABSTRACT From Massenlieder to Massovaia Pesnia: Musical Exchanges between Communists and Socialists of Weimar Germany and the Early Soviet Union by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry Department of Music Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Bryan Gilliam, Supervisor ___________________________ Edna Andrews ___________________________ John Supko ___________________________ Jacqueline Waeber An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 Copyright by Yana Alexandrovna Lowry 2014 Abstract Group songs with direct political messages rose to enormous popularity during the interwar period (1918-1939), particularly in recently-defeated Germany and in the newly- established Soviet Union. This dissertation explores the musical relationship between these two troubled countries and aims to explain the similarities and differences in their approaches to collective singing. The discussion of the very complex and problematic relationship between the German left and the Soviet government sets the framework for the analysis of music. Beginning in late 1920s, as a result of Stalin’s abandonment of the international revolutionary cause, the divergences between the policies of the Soviet government and utopian aims of the German communist party can be traced in the musical propaganda of both countries.
    [Show full text]
  • Ballad for ;Americans
    Ballad for ;Americans Gordon Clarke (as Uncle Sam) first sang theBallad for Americansin the Federal Theatre (W.P.A.) musical Sing for Your Supper ADELPHI THEATRE in 1939. 54,h ST EAST of 71k AVE WAY back in the 1930's, when the patri- Italian, French and English, Spanish, Rus- bearing Abraham Lincoln home to Springfield otism that long had been regarded as sian, Chinese, Polish, Scotch, Hungarian, Lit- after his death. For all its penchant forlisting the last refuge of scoundrels suddenly became vak, Swedish, Canadian, Greek and Turk/ things-a penchant it shares with many pieces fashionable among liberals (somewhat as it And Czech and double Czech American." We oftheperiod(seethe Latouche quote did again in the Bicentennial year), certain in- all know what happened tothatidea when above)-LonesomeTrainhas survived the vi- tellectuals of the period discovered "the peo- ethnicity came into fashion. Still, theBallad cissitudes of political and musical fashion ple" and "the little man" and "the man in the has its stirring moments. The sound has been rather better than the more famousBallad. street" as a political entity rather than the cleaned up skillfully, and Robeson is not only Here it is given a really superb treatment by sentimental, slightly quaint folk -hero he had a robust singer but a persuasive narrator. Peters, Odetta, and a fine chorus: been for the romantics of the early part of the On the other side of the record, however, nineteenth century. This made for some per- all the power in the considerably powerful ba- ALLthese works are of their period, and fectly dreadful and mercifully forgotten bad ritone of John Charles Thomas cannot rescue they all suffer from a peculiar paradox: the novels, poems, and pageants.
    [Show full text]